Christopher Hope joined The Daily Telegraph in October 2003. Since then he has been Business Correspondent, Industry Editor, Home Affairs Correspondent, Home Affairs Editor, Whitehall Editor and is now Senior Political Correspondent in The Daily Telegraph's office in the House of Commons.

George Osborne sticks to the script as he signals billions of pounds in benefit cuts

After last week’s “no notes” bravura performance by Ed Miliband, George Osborne’s speech was most definitely a throwback to how party conference speeches used to be.

The Chancellor gripped the lectern firmly, his eyes flicking between the auto-prompter glass screens in front of him. Even when he lifted his gaze, statesmanlike, to the metaphorical sunny uplands, he was able to see his words on a large LCD TV screen at the back of the hall.

This wasn't Martin Luther King-style oratory. It was not even as good as the Labour leader's showing in Manchester.

But Mr Osborne was taking no chances in getting his words wrong. There was simply too much at stake. “We press on,” he said, “we shall overcome.”

The language had also barely changed from the 2010 election. “We are all in this together,” he said, reprising the Tories’ election slogan.

Sitting in one of the boxes on the floor of the hall of Birmingham’s International Conference Centre, I had a side-on view of the delegates.

It was clear that not everyone was applauding wholeheartedly the Chancellor’s words. Some activists pointedly sat on their hands (particularly when Mr Osborne said that “we could not have done this without the Coalition”).

But that was to be expected. This was a speech designed to make clear to the Tories’ core supporters that Mr Osborne would not waver in trying to fix the economy.

Mr Osborne’s message was that the Coalition would with Thacherite determination cut spending rather than impose more taxes.

Mr Osborne hinted at the further difficult choices to come, insisting he would aim to make “£10 billion of welfare savings by the first full year of the next Parliament”.

Welfare secretary Iain Duncan Smith was on board with these changes, he said, “while delivering the most radical reform of our welfare system for generations”.

Mr Osborne even had a surprise announcement – that employees in small firms can swap employee rights for tax-free shares in companies.

The hope now for the Chancellor now is this conference speech draws a line under a terrible six months for Mr Osborne going back to the disastrous Budget in March.